Telkom looks to solve LTE network congestion problems

Telkom announced on Wednesday that it was experiencing congestion on some sections of its 2300Mhz LTE network due to an exceptional demand increase in recent months. However, the telephone group added that it was working with its provider, Huawei, to solve the problem. By Staff Writer

Telkom said the congestion was caused by a remarkable increase in customers using its data services.

“Due to the popularity of our … mobile broadband network, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of customers making use of our mobile data services and specifically the data services on LTE. This is in line with global experience, where LTE is forecast to play bigger role in the coming year, with a 47% percent global growth year-on-year predicted, mainly being driven by growth in China,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Telkom has seen an 18.4% increase in mobile voice and subscriptions and over 70% increase in mobile data traffic.

As a result of this exceptional demand increase seen in recent months, Telkom said it was currently experiencing congestion on some sections of our 2300Mhz LTE network, in some of the busier metro areas. “However, this is the exception as currently over 80% of our base stations are delivering LTE speeds of 10 Mbps and higher,” said the firm

It said its networks are upgraded and maintained on an ongoing basis, additional infrastructure investment have been made in recent months and are currently underway, to further accommodate this unprecedented increase in demand.

“The congested areas have all been identified and we are working with our provider, Huawei, to speed up the implementation of additional core capacity, site backhaul and radio capacity. Improvements in the most congested areas will be felt in the next week and will steadily improve across all congested sites within the next three weeks.

“We are delighted with the response to our LTE solutions. It is an absolute priority to ensure we can continue to deliver the quality performance our customers deserve and we apologise for any speed reductions, during peak times, as a result of the huge growth in demand.”